


Burning

by arrogantum



Category: Original Work
Genre: Cunnilingus, Dom/sub, Dom/sub Undertones, F/M, Femdom, Getting to Know Each Other, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, Magic, Male Submissive, Master/Slave, Matriarchy, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Role Reversal, Slavery, Touch-Starved, Vaginal Fingering, uhhhh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-11
Updated: 2020-06-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:00:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23105128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arrogantum/pseuds/arrogantum
Summary: Breathe in air, breathe out fire, perhaps we were all meant to catch flame anyway.Yilin receives a boy she doesn't want, and somehow her world comes down with him.
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Male Character
Comments: 39
Kudos: 108





	1. Together

It’s quiet for once, unnervingly so. The car goes on, the hum of the exhaust settling around Yilin’s hips like a fog. 

Her voice breaks the peace, “How much longer?” 

“Around 30 more minutes, my lady.” 

She heaves a withering sigh, leaning further back in her seat. Honestly, she doesn’t understand why she can’t just use a teleportation rune, it would be so much quicker and straightforward. But no, apparently, she needs to “keep up appearances” because her bitch of a sister killed her last boy by using too much teleportation magic and people of the Zhang household were supposed to be “humane” in their treatment of mana keepers. 

_We all know that’s a fucking lie._

Yilin rolls her eyes with a huff; she supposes she can’t blame her younger sister too much, Anxi was just overeager in her pursuits. Mana keepers are weak, after all, frail things they are. Yilin honestly has no idea how men have survived this long without using magic, poor things can’t so much levitate a pebble without their brains imploding in their skulls. The only thing they’re good for is collecting and storing mana. And for what? It’s not like they could properly channel it, only women could do that. 

Yilin snorts, thinking about her younger brother. The idiot thought he could be like her and Anxi, throwing sparks from their fingertips and wind under their feet. He’d tried to cast a small electricity spell when they were children, in an attempt to charge a tablet that was out of battery. Instead of charging the tablet, he ended up frying his fingertips and singeing his tongue. To this day, Er tells her that was the most painful experience of his life. 

Her phone tells her she still has about ten minutes left on her way back home, and that ten minutes has never felt so long. Truth be told, she doesn’t even want to come home, and she wouldn’t, were it not for the fact that her mother had bought her a new mana keeper for ministry usage. Personally, she doesn’t see the need for mana keepers anymore: it’s an archaic practice at best, and a cruel one at worst. With the current technologies, mana crystals are more than enough for support. 

But, according to her mother, women of her station are supposed to have at least one mana keeper under their service at all times. It’s always fascinated Yilin as to how the practice has evolved over the years, with women, especially rich ones, owning posses of men that functioned as glorified house slaves. Yilin’s father had been a mana keeper, one of her mother’s best. After Yilin was born, her father was given special treatment for providing a powerful daughter that could both store and cast magic, a rare being. 

If she’s being honest with herself, out of all her family members, she misses her father the most. He is a kind man, with an even temper and gentle hands. He taught her how to bake cookies and fix holes in her clothes, showering her with love when her mother did not. 

I should call him more often, she thinks to herself sheepishly, remembering the sadness in her father’s voice the last time he’d called. She had been busy with exams at the time, so they ended the call quickly, but she couldn’t help feeling guilty about leaving him hanging like that. 

“My lady,” Anne’s voice breaks her out of her reverie, “we’ve arrived at your home. Will you be needing any assistance with your bags?” 

“No thank you Anne,” Yilin waves her hand, transferring her bags inside the house, “I’ll see you in a week.” 

Anne bows, her black bob fluttering, before getting back in the car and pulling away. 

Yilin rolls her shoulders, popping the joints in her neck. The setting sun casts blood red streaks on the family mansion, a breeze blows by. 

Yilin sighs another heavy sigh. 

Here we go. 

-/-

Yilin chokes as Anxi tackles her in a hug, nearly falling over with the weight of her younger sister hanging off her neck. 

“Sister!” 

“Xixi, I know you’re excited to see me, but you have to get off of me, I’m going to die.” 

Anxi giggles, despite the scolding she just received, and drops to the ground, bare feet hitting the tile of their foyer. Her mana keeper stands close behind her, hands folded in front of him and head bowed in respect. Yilin doesn’t really remember his name, only feels a bit of pity for him. Knowing her sister’s voracious appetite for spell casting, he’ll probably be dead within half a year. 

Yilin motions to him with her chin, “What’s his name?” 

“Phillip!” Anxi’s eyes light up at the prospect of showing off her new boy, grabbing him by the arm and forcefully thrusting him forward, “Phillip, this is my sister, sister, this is Phillip!” 

Phillip’s voice is quiet and reedy, “May the Mother’s light find you well, my lady.” 

Yilin nods and tips Phillip’s chin up with the knuckle of her pointer finger to get a good look at him. He’s a handsome young man (that’s unsurprising, he wouldn’t be here if he was ugly), with the trademark emptiness in his brown eyes. Most mana keepers that have been passed from family to family seem to look like that, she secretly hopes Er won’t look like this someday. 

Speaking of, “Where’s Er?” Yilin lets go of Phillip and turns to her sister. 

Anxi thinks for a bit, tapping her chin while scanning for her brother. “He’s in the greenhouse,” she answers eventually, “But don’t you think you should greet mother first? She’s been waiting all day for you.” 

“She can wait,” Yilin grouses, “I want to see Er and father before I have to see that demon.” 

Anxi laughs, slotting her arm through Phillip’s. “Well, I won’t stop you. I have some homework I need to work on, anyway. Let me know when you’re done so you can help me with my incantations!” 

Yilin waves her sister off, walking towards the direction of the greenhouse. On her way, she stops by the kitchen and greets the staff. Auntie Yang wraps her in a warm hug, Grandma Song hands her a basket of food to bring with her to the greenhouse, and Uncle Soji stops her to gossip. 

Okay, she lied about missing her father the most. She misses everyone in the house, all the people she grew up with. Living alone in the city is nice, but coming home is nice too. Well, as long as she doesn’t have to talk to her mother, that is. 

Er is indeed in the greenhouse, ugly green overalls covering most of his body and dirty gloves still pulling at some weeds. He doesn’t hear her come in, so Yilin sneaks up behind him and blows in his ear, laughing loudly at the way he shrieks and jumps back. 

“Sister! Don’t do that!” An embarrassed flush makes its way high in his cheeks and a pout to his lips. 

“Sorry, sorry, couldn’t help it. I brought some food from the kitchen, if it’s any consolation?” Yilin still has a smile spread across her face, “Auntie Yang made us some egg tarts!” 

Er huffs and dusts himself off, glaring pointedly at the basket, “Fine, but only because I’m hungry and not because I missed you.” 

Yilin ruffles his hair, “Sure.” 

They find a place to sit, the nook in the greenhouse the three of them used to pile into when they were little. Yilin pulls out a blanket and spreads it on the floor while Er peeks inside the basket to see what the kitchen staff made. 

“So what’s new with you?” Yilin asks, plopping down cross-legged and snagging a plate from the basket. 

Er is quiet for a few minutes as he doles out food for the two of them, setting out the soy sauce, sesame oil, and chili sauce, pulling out the heaping plates of dumplings and vegetables and fried meats, and water bottles. It’s in moments like these that Yilin most sees her father in Er. He is more demure now, calmer and less confrontational. Yilin decides not to press him for speech, only watches him methodically spread everything out. 

“Mom’s going to marry me off soon,” comes his answer. 

Yilin stares, only for a moment. 

“What!? Why!?” 

The air around them immediately begins to flare up with her anger, and she swears she hears a crackle and sizzle near her left ear. 

Er presses a soft hand to her knee, absorbing some of the flyaway mana that Yilin’s temper pushed out. 

“Listen, don’t fight with mom--” 

“Oh you bet your fucking _ass_ I’ll fight with mom about this! You’re 17!” Yilin throws her hands into the air, “What the fuck is she doing!? Why is she forcing you to marry someone already!? Oh my god I bet she set you up with some old pervert that--” 

“Sister!” Er cuts her off in an uncharacteristically loud shout, “Please. I—I don’t want you to fight her on this. It’s all already been agreed upon, and I think This might be a good thing. For me. For the family.” 

Yilin narrows her eyes at Er, “You don’t sound convinced.” 

Er swallows, his grip on his fork tightening, “It doesn’t matter. All that matters is--” 

“I swear on the Mother, if you say all that matters is the family I will deck you.” 

Er is quiet. His lower lip trembles only slightly, “Please, sister, don’t fight with mom. You’re finally home and I don’t want you to fight with her.” 

Yilin takes a deep, calming breath. “I’ll do my best. I can’t promise anything, but I just want you to be safe.” 

Yilin thinks of Phillip’s glassy eyes when Er flashes her a small, genuine smile, “I know.” 

-/- 

Yilin’s mother is a terrible woman. 

Or, maybe she isn’t. Yilin has no idea, all she knows is that her mother has never loved anyone in her life and she makes sure everybody knows that. 

“Why are you forcing Er to get married?” 

Yilin doesn’t mean for the first words out of her mouth to be confrontational, yet when facing down the family matriarch, she can’t help it. Years of repressed rage bubble behind her eyelids when she blinks, and a part of her wants to just lob a fireball at her mother’s smug face. 

“What is it to you? You left this family ten years ago and now you want to come back and dictate what we do?” 

“I didn’t ‘leave the family,’ I went to school and then got a job at the Ministry, just like you always wanted. Remember?” Yilin spits out the last half of the sentence with a sneer, hands shaking with rage. 

“Don’t use that tone with me,” Yilin’s mother only tilts her head, “You don’t call the shots. I do. Maybe when I’m dead, you’ll see that I’m right for sending your brother away.” 

Yilin sees only red. 

“It’s not like he’s good for anything else, anyway. Might as well sell him to the highest bidder.” 

With a shout, Yilin launches herself over the massive wood table towards her mother, only to be slammed straight down. Her head meets the hardwood floor with a smack, and Yilin is almost positive she has a concussion. 

Still, Yilin struggles against her mother’s massive magical force. “Fuck you! He’s just a kid! Why is it that you insist on treating your children like pawns!? This is why no one in this family loves you! This is why when grandma died she didn’t contact you!” 

A beat. 

Then, Yilin feels blood filing her mouth as her mother’s hand cracks across her face. 

“I brought you back not so you could disrespect me,” Yilin hears the ice shards under her mother’s tongue as she speaks, “I brought you back to honor the family legacy. You will take the mana keeper I give you without complaint and you will never speak to me that way again. Leave.” 

Yilin stumbles onto her feet, just as her mother’s silver hair flashes and she is blown out of her office and into her old bedroom. 

There is movement behind her, and as she turns, she sees a scramble of limbs. Behind her stands who she assumes in the mana keeper her mother was forcing onto her. 

His eyes dart back and forth, never settling on one thing in the room for too long. He is wearing a simple white blouse and a simple black skirt, probably for easy access. 

“M-may the Moth-Mother,” his voice cracks terribly, “May the Mother’s light find you well, m-my lady.” 

Yilin can feel her eyebrows twitch in irritation. 

“And who the fuck are you?” 

He flinches at her acerbic tone, “I-I am your m-mana keeper, my lady. P-please allow me to serve you well.” 

Yilin sits heavily on her bed, motioning for him to come forward. He walks quickly, skirts swishing softly around his ankles, and kneels by her feet, head bowed and hands neatly folded. Yilin places a hand on his head, threading her fingers through his inky black hair and mutters a quick incantation to heal her head and face. 

How humiliating. Beaten and lectured by her mother on her first night back. 

“How old are you?” 

“T-twenty one, my lady.” 

Yilin flicks his forehead lightly, “Don’t stutter, it’s unbecoming. How many others have you served before me?” 

“Y-ye--” the boy clears his throat, “Yes my lady. You are my fifth.” 

Yilin hums, nails scratching lightly at his scalp, “I see. And how extensive is your training?” 

“I spent fifteen years at the Academy, my lady,” his voice grows a bit stronger as he leans in slightly towards her touch. 

Well, at least her mother didn’t get her some street mutt. She tips his chin upwards, “And your name?” 

His soft green eyes flick downwards to avoid looking into her eyes. Good, he has manners. “My name is Gou, my lady.” 

Immediately, Yilin’s eyebrows raise. How unusual, she thinks as her thumb traces over his cheekbones, an actual name? Not a flattering one by any stretch, of course, but a name, nonetheless. 

“Who gave you that name?” 

Gou tenses up instantaneously, “If you don’t like it, my lady, please change it! I didn’t mean to offend, I was given that name long ago but by no means am I asking--” 

Yilin takes her hand away from his face and waves it, “Save me the pretty words. Gou is fine, I just wanted to know if your parents gave it you.” 

Gou visibly relaxes, shaking his head. “No, my lady, my grandfather gave it to me.” 

“I see.” 

He’s cute, Yilin decides. She could use someone to make her food and do the chores around the house, if she’s being totally honest. Her apartment is a bit lonely when she’s the only one there, so maybe bringing Gou along wouldn’t be so bad after all. 

Yilin presses a kiss to his forehead, snickering at the small squeak he lets out in surprise. “It’s you and me now, Gou. Whether you want to or not, we’re in this for the long haul. Are you ready?” 

Gou stares up at her with big eyes, pausing when she brushes his bangs out of his eyes and presses another kiss on the bridge of his nose. 

“Yes, my lady,” he breathes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi y'all. honestly i have no idea what came over me for me to do this. i apologize if this isn't that great, i haven't stretched my fiction legs in a long time. i would say i regret this, but do i? do i regret oppressing men? no. not at all. anyways, some of you might be confused, so here's a handy dandy guide for pronunciations and such.
> 
> yilin- ee-lean  
> anxi- anne-she  
> er- are  
> gou- go
> 
> idk if i made it clear enough, but in this universe men can store mana, but can't use it. women can use mana, but can store very little. thus, men are used as suppliers, and over time their positions have morphed into those of indentured servants/sex workers. 
> 
> what else... oh, and er means two, because er is the second child of the household. male children aren't really given names since they're useless, so they're literally just numbered by order, so that's why yilin was surprised gou had a name. gou's name means dog, which isn't... great, but it's still something.
> 
> anyways, sorry for the long outro, i just wanted to make sure things were clear for easier reading. please talk to me in the comments!!


	2. Care

“You poor son of a bitch.” 

Gou blinks and turns around, starting at Yi’s rough voice. 

“I-I'm sorry?” 

Yi snorts, sitting down next to Gou at the table and ruffling his hair. 

“I heard you’re being sold again. To Zhang Yilin, of all goddamn people.” Yi looks at him with something akin to pity, his large hands scratching underneath his shock collar. 

Gou has heard the rumors about his future master. They call her a monster, a beast, a dragon. He fidgets nervously, slapping his own hand lightly before any of the Headmasters see. “I’m sure she’s not as bad as the rumors say.” 

He can almost feel Yi’s eyebrows raise, before he hears the incredulity in his voice, “Are you for real?” 

“I don’t know,” Gou shrugs, looking down at the bare meal in front of him. He pushes around the peas on his plate with his fork, occasionally stabbing one. 

Yi, ever the glutton for punishment, slaps him on the back a few times and laughs loudly, “Holy shit, you’re so weird, man. I can’t believe you--” 

A Headmaster grabs him by the collar and yanks him from his seat, her voice barely above a hiss, “What did I tell you about speaking loudly? Uncouth behavior begets uncouth punishment, let’s go.” 

Yi makes eye contact with Gou right before he’s dragged away, shooting him a wink and a grin. 

Don’t worry, he mouths. 

Gou worries.

-/- 

The rest of the week before Gou is transferred to his new master is a whirlwind. A small part of him, the miniscule part that isn’t constantly screaming in fear, actually kind of enjoys the attention. He’s always been quiet and unassuming, so he isn’t punished very often. A byproduct of this, however, is that he doesn’t get any positive attention, either.

He’s not smart like Qi, he’s not handsome like San, he’s not suave like Yi. The only thing his previous masters liked about him was his obedient and quiet nature. 

Gou hopes his new master will like him enough to keep him, most of the others just got bored of him after a while. 

The car ride to the Zhang household is nothing spectacular, although he does thoroughly enjoy the trees that whizz past the window and the clouds that float endlessly in the sky. The air outside the Academy smells fresher, less harsh and sterile. The whole way there, his handler rambles on about respecting his master and treating her with deference, constantly tugging at his shirt and smoothing out wrinkles in his skirt. 

Gou tries not to preen under the attention, reminding himself the only reason why she was treating him with such care in the first place was because she wanted to make sure selling him went smoothly. 

When they arrive, he can’t stop his mouth from dropping open in awe. Whatever he’s heard about the Zhang family thus far, it does not do the grandeur of their estate any justice. Pagodas shoot up towards the sky, their flared roofs pointing proudly out into the world. The white walls of the mansion almost gleam in the noon sunlight, stretching seemingly endlessly throughout the estate. 

“Welcome,” a strict-faced woman emerges from the massive front doors, “Please come inside. The Lady will join you in a few moments.” 

Gou finds himself kneeling by his handler’s feet, in front of a massive oak coffee table. The Zhang family’s family colors are red and gold, and they’ve certainly taken ownership of the colors; everything in the house is lined with red velvet or gold. 

When the head of the household arrives, Gou can feel her from a hallway down. Duchess Zhang, from what has been frantically told to him by his handler, is one of the nation’s most powerful magicians, and in order for the sale to go well he cannot make her angry. 

Try as he might, Gou can’t find it in himself to be apprehensive about this situation. The lady he’s being sold to, Lady Yilin, has never had a mana keeper. She was born with the abilities of both men and women, and as such she’s become an important figure in Hualan’s Ministry of Magic. She doesn’t have a history of cruelty, nor does she have a string of dead keepers tied to her reputation. Perhaps, Gou thinks hopefully, he’ll be able to stay with her this time. 

A rustle of papers shakes Gou out of his reverie; he watches closely as the paperwork exchanges hands, Duchess Zhang’s sharp golden eyes flicking over the words on the page. 

“And he’s trained?” Her cold voice asks, 

“Yes, of course Duchess,” his handler’s voice shakes slightly, “We would never think to offer your honorable house an untrained keeper, after all we are the nation’s best and--” 

Duchess Zhang’s manicured hand comes up to stop his handler’s rambling in its tracks. “Enough. I’ll have a servant send over the payment this evening,” she turns to the same woman that had let them into the house, “Take him to Yilin’s room, he’ll wait for her there.” 

The woman bows motions for him to follow her; Gou gets to his feet as gracefully as he can and walks quickly to catch up with her. Behind him, he can hear some mutterings between his handler and Duchess Zhang. 

He takes one last look at the room he came out of, watches as the vestiges of his old life fade away with the voices in the room.

-/- 

Gou decides very quickly that Lady Anxi is terrifying. Perhaps not terrifying in appearance, but very much terrifying in conduct.

He glances nervously at Phillip’s pallid face, his skin looks waxy with a sheen of sweat slowly making its way down the poor man’s face. Phillip is fast running out of mana, yet Lady Anxi shows no signs of stopping her spellcasting. 

“Ugh!” Anxi stomps her foot petulantly, “Why isn’t it working!? I said all the right things! What the hell!” 

His Lady snorts in amusement, her head landing gently on Gou’s head to stroke his hair lightly. Gou shivers and leans against her leg, head going fuzzy with want. 

“You’re going to kill your new boy at this rate, Xixi.” 

Gou can barely feel the dopey grin slipping onto his face, how kind of his Lady, to notice Phillip’s plight and admonish her sister. 

Anxi pouts dramatically, looking only seconds away from throwing a temper tantrum, “But sister! It’s not fair! Why can’t I get the spell right!?” 

Gou hears a heavy sigh from above him, and sneaks a look up to see his Lady rolling her eyes. “You’re using the wrong tones, Xixi. When you say ziyan, you keep using second tone for yan instead of first tone,” her nails scratch at Gou’s scalp, “That’s what’s messing you up. Hurry up and finish before Phillip collapses.” 

Finally, Anxi takes a look at Phillip, the poor thing barely able to hold himself upright. 

“Oh shit, Phillip! Wow, I thought you’d be able to handle this much but I guess not, huh?” Anxi giggles and pokes at Phillips shoulder, watching with a cavalier grin as he nearly topples over. 

“Don’t be mean, he’s trying his best,” his Lady says with a grimace, “You need to be more careful. Mother isn’t going to buy you another keeper for some time if this one dies.” 

Anxi throws her hands up in the air dramatically, “Okay! Fine! Let me try one more time and I’ll stop.” 

His Lady settles back in her chair and continues petting Gou, her warm hand smoothing out his hair and making him snuggle closer against her leg. Gou is infinitely relieved when Lady Anxi is able to successfully pull off the spell, a bright poof of smoke bursting up as the chunk of coal on the ground transmutes into a hunk of diamond. 

Phillips looks about ready to keel over when Lady Anxi pulls him to his feet, frowning at him when he stumbles. “Thanks for your help sister! I’ll see you later, I'm gonna go see Er, he said he made cookies and I want to eat some while they’re hot.” 

His Lady waves her off, without looking up from her phone, “Go, go, just don’t eat all of them. I’m sure he’s going to want to save some for me and dad.” 

Anxi skips off with another giggle and doesn't wait for Phillip, who's limping behind her, barely keeping up and very much in need of a hot meal and a nap. 

“My Lady,” Gou speaks softly, “will Phillip be all right?” 

His Lady pauses from scrolling, raising an eyebrow to look at him. Gou wonders belatedly if he’s made a mistake by asking, but she only shakes her head with a slight grin, “Eh, he’ll be fine. Er is a fussy guy, he’ll probably yell at Xixi and force feed Phillip some vegetables when they go visit him.” 

“I see,” Gou nods, hands tracing his Lady’s ankles, “Thank you my Lady.” 

“You’re a soft one, huh?” 

“I beg your pardon, my Lady?” 

Yilin laughs loudly at this, kissing his forehead again, “You’re cute, baby, but you really don’t make for good conversation, do you?” 

Yilin smiles, watching Gou flush hotly. 

“I-I--” He stammers, unable to come up with an answer. 

“It’s okay, my mother didn’t buy you so you could talk to me,” Yilin stands and stretches her arms above her head, “Do you want to show me what else you can do with your mouth?”

-/- 

Unexpectedly, Gou is very good with his mouth. His tongue traces her clit, sucking gently and drawing circles around it. Yilin sighs and rests a hand on his head.

“That’s it,” she pets him, “Mm, don’t be shy, use your fingers too.” 

Gou whimpers and traces her lips with his middle finger, pumping it in and out shallowly before pushing in to the second knuckle. Yilin moans with a sigh, her head leaning against the back of her chair. 

“Wonderful, Gou, that’s lovely. Use another finger, I know you can do it.” 

Gou’s strokes grow bolder with praise, his tongue flattening against her clit as he scissors two fingers inside of her. He whines against her, only making Yilin wetter and smile wider. 

She rolls her hips against his face, “I’m almost there, sweet pea. Ah, just a little, mmm, more!” 

Gou’s movements become heavier, pumping his fingers faster and suckles her clit at just the right pressure. Yilin cums with a moan, grinding against Gou’s tongue and riding out her orgasm. Gou continues eating her out, making a disappointed whine when she pushes his face away. 

Yilin grins at him and cups his face, “Well done, Gou. I should have you do that more often.” 

True to his name, Yilin can almost see a tail wagging behind him as he shivers with the praise. 

_My boy has a thing for praise, huh._

Yilin pets him one last time before standing to clean herself. “We’ll be going to see my father in an hour or so, can you be ready by then?” 

Gou blinks a few times, the lust clouding his eyes fading. He nods, grabbing parts of his skirt to try and hide his growing erection. “Yes, my Lady.” 

Yilin smiles, sated. “Good. I’ll see you then.” 

Gou bows, and exits her room. 

_Yeah_ , Yilin thinks, _I think I’ll keep him._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> did i write this chapter while on a shit ton of xannies and listening to anderson paak on repeat? idk man, you tell me. anyways, this time we get to see a bit more of phillip (more to come) and anxi's disregard for people that aren't her immediate family. next chapter, we meet pops!! he's a cutie pie and way nicer than mom.
> 
> i apologize that this update came later than anticipated. with uni switching to online classes and the whole covid-19 thing going on, life's been very strange. please talk to me in the comments, how have y'all been? is everything going okay?


	3. Warmth, or the Absence of It

In a rush of nostalgia, Yilin grins when she realizes can hear her father far before she sees him. He’s in the midst of fretting over Phillip’s physical condition and tittering at Anxi for her carelessness. 

“Xixi! Come now, how many times must I remind you that keepers are not toys? Oh, I know what it is, it’s that delinquent I always see you with. What was her name again? Qing something? Ugh, she is such a horrid influence on you, my baby, you really must stop seeing her. Truly, I think--” 

“Baba!” Yilin enters the room with a flourish, “I think you know better than to insult Xixi’s friends, you remember what happened last time.” 

Anxi sits huffily in a chair in the corner of the room, arms crossed tightly, and cheeks puffed out in defiance of their father. Yilin chuckles and ruffles Anxi’s hair before going and sitting next to her father at the low table in the center of the room. Gou follows close, naturally slipping into a kneel behind her. 

“How’ve you been, Baba?” 

Taishen’s angry scowl melts into a soft smile, the crowfeet wrinkles near his eyes deepening as he takes in the sight of his eldest child sitting beside him. 

His thumb strokes Yilin’s cheek fondly, pulling her close to press a few kisses across her forehead. “Oh, my dear, I missed you very much.” 

Yilin’s throat immediately tightens with emotion, her hands grip the back of her father’s shirt in an attempt to keep from crying, “Missed you too, Baba.” 

Anxi clears her throat, breaking up the tender moment, and makes her way over to them, plopping down across from them to continue her pouting in a more visible location. Phillip wobbles to kneel behind her, only to be stopped by Taishen’s frantic movements, pushing him back down and forcefully pushing the bowl of soup he’d been eating back into his hands. 

Yilin watches, contentedly, her father mutter gently to Phillip, smoothing Phillip’s hair down in the warm way he used to when she was a child. Phillip, for the most part, just looks confused and very hesitant. It’s likely this is the first time an authority figure has ever been kind to him or thought about his wellbeing. 

At some point, a few other members of her mother’s harem join them in the room. A couple of men Yilin don’t recognize, who probably entered the harem after she left the house, gather around Anxi and coo at her, patting her cheek soothingly and smiling at her. Uncle Sun and Uncle Fei slip down next to Yilin, both grabbing one of her hands, speaking excitedly and asking her how she’s been. Yilin allows herself to relax for the first time in months, leaning her head against Uncle Fei’s shoulder, listening to the two older men ramble on. 

“And, oh, Linlin, listen to this,” Uncle Sun glances around quickly before leaning and whispering, “Did you know that your mother actually caught someone trying to sneak out last month?!” 

Uncle Fei gasps in horror, his hand coming up dramatically to rest his painted fingertips against his lips. “No! Who was it!?” 

Uncle Sun sighs and shakes his head, his hand pressed against his cheek, “I don’t know! They wouldn’t tell me. The only thing I was able to get out of Her Grace was that he was a young one, one of the ones that arrived last year.” 

“Last year?” Yilin’s eyes narrow, regarding Uncle Sun suspiciously, “I thought my mother stopped buying keepers four years ago.” 

Uncle Sun stiffens, inching away from her nervously, “Oh, Linlin, I must’ve misspoke,” his laugh is high and tense, eyes darting away from hers. 

Before Yilin can grab the man by his collar and interrogate him, her father’s hand lands heavily on her shoulder. She looks up to see her father smiling down at her, something bitter in his eyes. 

“Why don’t you check up on your brother? He’s in the kitchen right now, he might have a bit of trouble carrying everything back.” 

Yilin stands with an irritated grunt, brushing her uncles’ hands away from her, Gou following in suit. “Tell me more later,” she mutters into her father’s ear. 

He can only nod. 

-/- 

“Need any help?” 

Er turns and smiles at Yilin and Gou, his eyes forming crescents when his cheeks push upward. “Sister! Gou! Perfect timing, I just finished making these.” 

Er holds out a tray of cookies, their surfaces shining with a well-baked egg wash. Yilin can feel her eyes widen with delight, snagging two cookies off the tray. Er was always a talented baker, and this is no exception. 

“Fuck, I really should come home more, I haven’t had these in so long,” Yilin says through munching. Behind her, she can feel Gou nod vigorously as he takes small bites of his cookie. 

Er makes a face of disgust, wrinkling his nose slightly, “Sister please speak after you’ve finished swallowing. You know it’s bad manners.” 

Yilin picks up another cookie and sticks her tongue out him, “Manners are for losers. Try again when I want to care.” 

Er heaves a sigh that sounds suspiciously like her father’s. “Sister--” 

“Yeah, yeah, okay. Fine, I’ll stop,” Yilin stops Er before he gets too far, pushing Gou into a chair at the kitchen island. Gou’s expression turns inquisitive as he opens his mouth to ask something, but Yilin stops him with a kiss on the forehead. “Be a good boy and sit there.” 

“Yes, of course, my lady,” Gou nods, his bangs flopping against his forehead. 

Yilin pinches Er’s cheek as she passes him, whisking open the oven door and pulling the trays out. She whistles, impressed, “You baked pineapple buns too?” 

“I did! Would you like to try one?” 

“Hell yeah! Is that even a question?” Yilin pulls the heat out of the bun, tossing it at Er haphazardly in a puff of warm air, and takes a massive bite. 

An almost feral smile spread across her face, tearing into the pastry with fervour. “You’re so good at making food, should I just steal you from mom and take you to the city? Tons of my friends would love someone who can cook.” 

“As appealing at that sounds,” Er grimaces at the way Yilin slings her arm around Gou’s shoulder to play with his cheeks, “I’m afraid I will most likely remain here, please apologize to your friends for me.” 

Yilin gives an absentminded hum, snickering at Gou’s weak attempts to maintain his composure, ultimately bested by Yilin’s insistent squinching of his cheeks together. 

“Sister, would you please stop playing with Gou’s cheeks and help me? These are all still too hot, I’d like them just warm, please.” 

Yilin huffs, disappointed at having to stop teasing her boy, and waves her hand, pulling some of the heat out of all the pastries on the table. Gou watches with wide, fascinated eyes as the steam and heat form a ball over Yilin’s open palm; she mutters a quick incantation and blows, the ball dissipating into air. 

“I think they’re at a good temperature,” Yilin turns to her brother, “Everything look okay with you?” 

Before she can even finish her sentence, Er is already moving all the food onto decorative plates and tins; Gou jumps from his seat and scurries over to help, his hands fidgeting helplessly. Er says nothing, only hands him a plate and points towards a tray of coconut buns. Yilin watches the two men work in tandem, placing and arranging different pastries on trays. 

She leans her chin against her hand and takes a photo of them, eyes softening when she sees the way the sun frames them on her phone screen. 

It’s quiet, and she likes it that way. 

-/-

“Are you happy, baba?” 

Yilin feels her father turn to her in surprise. “What made you ask this kind of question, my darling?” 

The cheesy pet name makes her smile slightly, her head tipping to the side to lean against her father’s shoulder. 

“I don’t know. Nostalgia?” Her heart warms when Taishen wraps his arm around her shoulders, kissing the top of her head, “Er’s leaving soon. I don’t want him to go.” 

“I don’t either,” Taishen’s voice is filled with a bitter resignation and something fragile, “but your mother is not one to be swayed. Trust me, I have tried speaking with her, she refuses to listen to me.” 

The fading sunlight glows on her father’s eyelashes and casts spiderwebs onto his cheeks, scattering when he gazes fondly at his oldest daughter. It’s been far too long since they’ve sat together like this: on their favorite spot on the roof, watching the sun set, each with a bottle of beer in hand. 

“Why do you listen to her so much? You can do pretty much anything you want, right? Why let her just sell Er?” 

“Because there won’t be a place for him here, soon, my baby. You know, just as much as your mother and I do, that it won’t be long until you become the head of the household.” 

He’s right, he always is. Even as a child, she could never outsmart her father, constantly being caught when avoiding her tutors or foiling her pranks. 

A realization hits Yilin with the force of a truck, “Is that why Uncle Sun mentioned a young man? Because mom decided to start building a harem for me?” 

A beat of silence passes, then another, until she hears her father’s sigh of defeat. She’s right. 

Yilin swallows the impulse to start screaming, looking down at her fingers wrapped around the neck of her beer bottle. For a while, the only sound that pings in the air around them are text notifications from her phone. 

“What’ll happen to you when I become head?” 

Yilin’s voice feels small against the weight of their entire nation’s expectations of her. Energy bleeds out of her like steam, the air feeling colder with every passing second. 

“I don’t know,” her father admits, “only your mother can make that decision.” 

_No_ , the wind answers her question, _I am not happy._

It's quiet, again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi y'all. so uh. yeah it's been some time, huh? if you've been waiting for an update, thank you so much for your patience. life has been and continues to be a shitshow, but i hope this chapter helps, even if it's just a little bit.
> 
> please drop a comment if you have the time, i'd love to talk and catch up!! 
> 
> (also if you wanna see more in-depth content with more femdom writers and enthusiasts, join our discord!! i promise it's a lot of fun https://discord.gg/67hPDCa)


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